DOCSLIB.ORG

The Foraging Tunnel System of the Namibian Desert Termite, Baucaliotermes Hainesi

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Foraging Tunnel System of the Namibian Desert Termite, Baucaliotermes Hainesi Journal of Insect Science: Vol. 10 | Article 65 Tschinkel The foraging tunnel system of the Namibian Desert termite, Baucaliotermes hainesi Walter R. Tschinkel Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32303 Abstract The harvester termite, Baucaliotermes hainesi (Fuller) (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), is an endemic in southern Namibia, where it collects and eats dry grass. At the eastern, landward edge of the Namib Desert, the nests of these termites are sometimes visible above ground surface, and extend at least 60 cm below ground. The termites gain access to foraging areas through underground foraging tunnels that emanate from the nest. The looseness of the desert sand, combined with the hardness of the cemented sand tunnels allowed the use of a gasoline- powered blower and soft brushes to expose tunnels lying 5 to 15 cm below the surface. The tunnels form a complex system that radiates at least 10 to 15 m from the nest with cross- connections between major tunnels. At 50 to 75 cm intervals, the tunnels are connected to the surface by vertical risers that can be opened to gain foraging access to the surrounding area. Foraging termites rarely need to travel more than a meter on the ground surface. The tunnels swoop up and down forming high points at riser locations, and they have a complex architecture. In the center runs a smooth, raised walkway along which termites travel, and along the sides lie pockets that act as depots where foragers deposit grass pieces harvested from the surface. Presumably, these pieces are transported to the nest by a second group of termites. There are also several structures that seem to act as vertical highways to greater depths, possibly even to moist soil. A census of a single nest revealed about 45,000 termites, of which 71% were workers, 9% soldiers and 6% neotenic supplementary reproductives. The nest consisted of a hard outer “carapace” of cemented sand, with a central living space of smooth, sweeping arches and surfaces. A second species of termite, Promirotermes sp. nested in the outer carapace. Key Words: foraging, harvester termite, nest construction, architecture, construction Correspondence: [email protected] Associate Editor: Robert Jeanne was editor of this paper Received: 14 February 2008, Accepted: 7 July 2008 Copyright : This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed. ISSN: 1536-2442 | Vol. 10, Number 65 Cite this paper as: Tschinkel WR. 2010. The foraging tunnel system of the Namibian Desert termite, Baucaliotermes hainesi. Journal of Insect Science 10:65 available online: insectscience.org/10.65 Journal of Insect Science | www.insectscience.org 1 Journal of Insect Science: Vol. 10 | Article 65 Tschinkel Introduction mound and extending 25 to 30 m to the dead wood on which the termites were Termites can be roughly grouped into those feeding (Ratcliffe and Greaves 1940; Hill species that nest within their food, usually 1942; Greaves 1962). In C. lacteus, tunnels wood, and those that nest elsewhere and were more or less radial, with few cross must leave their nest in order to forage for connections, but with shafts to deeper soil. food. Of the latter type, nests may be In N. exitiosus, the radial tunnels were arboreal or subterranean, centrally located cross-connected. Hill (1925) noted or dispersed into small, connected units. subterranean passages with flattened Most termites shun the open air, and travel lumena thickly floored with “rejectamenta” to and from the foraging area by way of radiating outward from a nest of the subterranean tunnels or covered galleries. Australian Mastotermes darwiniensis, but Many species also cover the foraged he did not trace these passages far. A material with sheet galleries before dining. particularly thorough study is that of Darlington (1982), in which the Among ground-nesting termites, nests may underground foraging passages of be hidden below ground, or they may be Macrotermes michaelsoni were exposed conspicuous features of the landscape, such and quantified. as the mounds of the southern African species of Macrotermes or Trinervitermes. Many termites do not build mounds that Given a central nest, the need to forage for show above ground, but construct entirely food and an aversion toward open air, it is subterranean nests, with tunnels to the obvious that many termites must create surface. The African harvester termite, subterranean foraging tunnel systems. Such Hodotermes mossambicus, is well studied systems, however, have rarely been studied, because of occasional subterranean and are usually hardly mentioned (if at all) encounters during the digging of trenches in reviews of termite biology. Even an for construction (Hartwig 1963, 1965; authoritative treatment, such as Noirot’s Coaton and Sheasby 1975). These (1970) review of the nests of termites, gives encounters revealed that nests are located short shrift to how termites travel from their an average about 1.4 m below ground, but nests to their foraging areas. Typically, it is can be as shallow as a few cm or as deep as assumed that the termites travel in 6.7 m. Large passages connect these subterranean foraging tunnels (e.g. Sands subterranean nests to each other, and 1961), and indeed, the few existing studies smaller passages give the termites access to of subterranean foraging tunnels have the surface where they dump excavated soil revealed tunnel systems of remarkable size and forage for grass. Foraged grass is first and scale (Howse 1970; reviewed by Lee placed into small, superficial chambers for and Wood 1971). Most mound-building later transportion to the nests and species exit their nests through subterranean consumption. foraging tunnels that run a few cm below the surface. In some species, the tunnels are None of the reports on subterranean gallery short, and the termites travel some distance systems describe architectural details of the on the ground surface, but in others, the tunnels themselves or how they are tunnels may extend 25 to 30 m (or even 60 constructed. This paper reveals the intricate m) from the mound. For example, the and subtle architecture of the foraging Australian termites Coptotermes lacteus, C. tunnels of the Namibian harvester termite, brunneus, C. acinaciformis and Baucaliotermes hainesi (Fuller) Nasutitermes exitiosus constructed systems (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), and with 9 to 30 tunnels emanating from the describes how this complex system Journal of Insect Science | www.insectscience.org 2 Journal of Insect Science: Vol. 10 | Article 65 Tschinkel probably serves the foraging needs of the from year to year. termites. Like other harvester termites, B. hainesi foragers cut pieces of grass on the Tunnel excavation and mapping ground surface, and carry these back to Nests of B. hainesi were regularly visible at their nest. The range of this species is the surface as small mounds of cemented limited to southern Namibia and the material 10 to 15 cm high. All excavation northwestern Cape Province of South work was completed between October 22 Africa (Coaton and Sheasby 1973). and November 3, 2007. Tunnels were initially exposed by trenching around the Materials and Methods nest to locate tunnels, and excavated outward from there. The looseness of the The study site dry sand, combined with the relative The study site was located at latititude - hardness of the cemented sand tunnels 24.9702, longitude 15.9323 (according to facilitated exposure of the tunnels. The sand Google Earth) in the NamibRand Nature over the tunnels was loosened with a soft Reserve, a private reserve of about 180,000 hand broom, and the loosened sand was ha. The soil was red sand largely stabilized blown away with a gasoline-powered lawn by the grasses, Stipagrostis uniplumis blower (Husqvarna Model 356 BTx) (Video (Licht) De Winter and S. giessii Kers 1, Video 2). This process produced a (Poales: Poaceae), with circular, bare areas shallow trench 10-15 cm deep with the 5 to 15 m in diameter termed “fairy circles” mostly intact tunnels in the bottom. (van Rooyen et al. 2004), and abundant Branches and intersections were sometimes animal trails crossing it in multiple followed, but, for many branches, only the directions. The site sloped gently from initial few cm were exposed, leaving an about 1100 m elevation at the base of unknown but substantial fraction of the Jagkop mountain to about 940 m just short entire tunnel system unexposed. Tunnels of the Bushman Hills. Our two excavations that were in use were distinguished from were at approximately 1085 to 1090 m abandoned tunnels because the former elevation. This area has an arid climate remained intact upon excavation and/or where rainfall averages between 50 and 150 contained live termites mm per annum but is highly variable Figure 1. Tunnels in current use by the termites could usually be recognized by the termites found within them. Here, nasute soldiers are defending a broken tunnel. High quality figures are available online. Journal of Insect Science | www.insectscience.org 3 Journal of Insect Science: Vol. 10 | Article 65 Tschinkel when broken (Figure 1). Abandoned tunnels The dissection and collection took two tended to break, and were often filled with days. Termites from the mound and each sand. quarter of the nest from the top downwards were preserved separately. A sample of 100 In this manner, large parts of the foraging each of workers, soldiers and neotenic tunnel systems of two focal nests were supplementary reproductives (there were no exposed, one located at (lat, long) - mature alates in the nest) were killed by 24.96960, 15.93284 and the second at - freezing and air-dried for later 24.96981, 15.93403. The exposed tunnel determination of dry weight. systems were mapped by making a series of overlapping digital photographs (with a Counts were carried out in the laboratory at scale) from a uniform height (~ 1 m), like Florida State University.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Biology of Nine Termite Species (Isoptera: Termitidae) from the Cerrado of Central Brazil
    THE BIOLOGY OF NINE TERMITE SPECIES (ISOPTERA: TERMITIDAE) FROM THE CERRADO OF CENTRAL BRAZIL BY HELEN R. COLES DE NEGRET AND KENT H. REDFORD INTRODUCTION The Neotropical region is second to the Ethiopian in numbers of described termite species (Araujo 1970). However, little is known of their biology. The literature on Brazilian termites is largely re- stricted to isolated taxonomic descriptions of species from the Amazon Basin and southern states of Brazil (Araujo 1961, 1969, 1977 and Fontes 1979). Exceptions to this include information re- lating termite species and their distribution to vegetation types in Mato Grosso State (Mathews 1977), the effect of deforestation on termites in the Amazon (Bandeira 1979) and data on the ecology and defense of termites in the cerrado vegetation of the Distrito Federal (Coles 1980). The present study was done in conjunction with a study on mammalian termite predators, in particular the giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Coles 1980 and Redford in prep.). Six aspects of termite biology of importance in defense by termites against mammalian predators were studied for nine of the most common mound-building termite species in the Distrito Federal, Brazil. Reported here are individual weights, morphology of soldier castes, worker-soldier ratios, mound sizes and forms, mound hard- nesses and nest materials, distributions and abundances of nests and feeding habits for these nine species. All species studied were from the family Termitidae (see Fig. for comparison of soldier heads), subfamily Apicotermitinae, Grigioter- mes rnetoecus (Matthews); subfamily Nasutitermitinae, Armitermes Laboratoria de Zoologia e Ecologia Animal, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia D. F. 80910, Brazil.
    [Show full text]
  • Structure, Function and Evolution of the Labral and Frontal Glands in Termites Valeria Danae Palma Onetto
    Structure, function and evolution of the labral and frontal glands in termites Valeria Danae Palma Onetto To cite this version: Valeria Danae Palma Onetto. Structure, function and evolution of the labral and frontal glands in termites. Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]. Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2019. English. NNT : 2019USPCD027. tel-03033808 HAL Id: tel-03033808 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03033808 Submitted on 1 Dec 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. UNIVERSITÉ PARIS 13, SORBONNE PARIS CITÉ ECOLE DOCTORALE GALILEÉ THESE présentée pour l’obtention du grade de DOCTEUR DE L’UNIVERSITE PARIS 13 Spécialité: Ethologie Structure, function and evolution Defensiveof the labral exocrine and glandsfrontal glandsin termites in termites Présentée par Valeria Palma–Onetto Sous la direction de: David Sillam–Dussès et Jan Šobotník Soutenue publiquement le 28 janvier 2019 JURY Maria Cristina Lorenzi Professeur, Université Paris 13 Présidente du jury Renate Radek Professeur, Université Libre de Berlin Rapporteur Yves Roisin Professeur,
    [Show full text]
  • The Nature of Alarm Communication in Constrictotermes Cyphergaster (Blattodea: Termitoidea: Termitidae): the Integration of Chemical and Vibroacoustic Signals Paulo F
    © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd | Biology Open (2015) 4, 1649-1659 doi:10.1242/bio.014084 RESEARCH ARTICLE The nature of alarm communication in Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Blattodea: Termitoidea: Termitidae): the integration of chemical and vibroacoustic signals Paulo F. Cristaldo1,*, Vojtĕch Jandák2, Kateřina Kutalová3,4,5, Vinıciuś B. Rodrigues6, Marek Brothánek2, Ondřej Jiřıć̌ek2, Og DeSouza6 and Jan Šobotnıḱ3 ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Predation and competition have long been considered major ecological Alarm signalling is of paramount importance to communication in all factors structuring biotic communities (e.g. Shurin and Allen, 2001). In social insects. In termites, vibroacoustic and chemical alarm signalling many taxa, a wide range of defensive strategies have evolved helping are bound to operate synergistically but have never been studied organisms to deal with costs imposed by such interactions. Strategies simultaneously in a single species. Here, we inspected the functional consist in combining mechanical (biting, kicking, fleeing) and/or significance of both communication channels in Constrictotermes chemical (toxic or repellent compounds) arsenal with an effective cyphergaster (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), confirming the hypothesis alarm communication. The ability to give and perceive conspecific that these are not exclusive, but rather complementary processes. In signalling about imminent threats has attained maximum complexity natural situations, the alarm predominantly attracts soldiers, which in social groups, such as vertebrates (Manser, 2001, 2013) and insects actively search for the source of a disturbance. Laboratory testing (Blum, 1985; Hölldobler, 1999; Hölldobler and Wilson, 2009). revealed that the frontal gland of soldiers produces a rich mixture of In termites, one facet of such complexity is represented by the terpenoid compounds including an alarm pheromone.
    [Show full text]
  • The Neglected Contribution of Mound-Building Termites on CH Emissions in Brazilian Pastures 2 4 Oliveira Et Al
    R. Bras. Zootec., 50:e20200185, 2021 https://doi.org/10.37496/rbz5020200185 Forage crops Full-length research article Brazilian Journal of Animal Science e-ISSN 1806-9290 www.rbz.org.br The neglected contribution of mound-building termites on CH4 emissions in Brazilian pastures Dener Márcio da Silva Oliveira1* , Eloá Moura Araújo2 , Elizio Ferreira Frade Junior3 , Laisa Gouveia Pimentel1 , Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri4 1 Instituto Federal Goiano, Laboratório Multiusuário de Ciências Naturais, Posse, GO, Brasil. 2 Universidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Solos e Engenharia Agrícola, Curitiba, PR, Brasil. *Corresponding author: 3 Universidade Federal do Acre, Laboratório de Fertilidade do Solo e Nutrição de Plantas, [email protected] Rio Branco, AC, Brasil. Received: August 14, 2020 4 Universidade de São Paulo, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, Accepted: November 5, 2020 Departamento de Ciência do Solo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil. How to cite: Oliveira, D. M. S.; Araújo, E. M.; Frade Junior, E. F.; Pimentel, L. G. and Cerri, C. E. P. 2021. The neglected contribution of ABSTRACT mound-building termites on CH4 emissions in Brazilian pastures. Revista Brasileira de on the contribution of termite mounds to CH emissions in Brazilian Cerrado pastures. - Based on previous reports, our4 study aimed to obtain the first estimate Zootecnia 50:e20200185. We estimated that termite mounds occupy an area larger than 200,000 ha in degraded https://doi.org/10.37496/rbz5020200185 pastures, an important loss of grazing area considering the current scenario of land-use Copyright: This is an open access article change of pastures to other crops in Brazil.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Relationships Between Plant Functional Traits and Environment in Grasslands
    GLOBAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PLANT FUNCTIONAL TRAITS AND ENVIRONMENT IN GRASSLANDS EMMA JARDINE A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Department of Animal and Plant Sciences Submission Date July 2017 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all I am enormously thankful to Colin Osborne and Gavin Thomas for giving me the opportunity to undertake the research presented in this thesis. I really appreciate all their invaluable support, guidance and advice. They have helped me to grow in knowledge, skills and confidence and for this I am extremely grateful. I would like to thank the students and post docs in both the Osborne and Christin lab groups for their help, presentations and cake baking. In particular Marjorie Lundgren for teaching me to use the Licor, for insightful discussions and general support. Also Kimberly Simpson for all her firey contributions and Ruth Wade for her moral support and employment. Thanks goes to Dave Simpson, Maria Varontsova and Martin Xanthos for allowing me to work in the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, for letting me destructively harvest from the specimens and taking me on a worldwide tour of grasses. I would also like to thank Caroline Lehman for her map, her useful comments and advice and also Elisabeth Forrestel and Gareth Hempson for their contributions. I would like to thank Brad Ripley for all of his help and time whilst I was in South Africa. Karmi Du Plessis and her family and Lavinia Perumal for their South African friendliness, warmth and generosity and also Sean Devonport for sharing all the much needed teas and dub.
    [Show full text]
  • Mechanisms for the Evolution of Superorganismality in Ants
    Rockefeller University Digital Commons @ RU Student Theses and Dissertations 2021 Mechanisms for the Evolution of Superorganismality in Ants Vikram Chandra Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/ student_theses_and_dissertations Part of the Life Sciences Commons MECHANISMS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF SUPERORGANISMALITY IN ANTS A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of The Rockefeller University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Vikram Chandra June 2021 © Copyright by Vikram Chandra 2021 MECHANISMS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF SUPERORGANISMALITY IN ANTS Vikram Chandra, Ph.D. The Rockefeller University 2021 Ant colonies appear to behave as superorganisms; they exhibit very high levels of within-colony cooperation, and very low levels of within-colony conflict. The evolution of such superorganismality has occurred multiple times across the animal phylogeny, and indeed, origins of multicellularity represent the same evolutionary process. Understanding the origin and elaboration of superorganismality is a major focus of research in evolutionary biology. Although much is known about the ultimate factors that permit the evolution and persistence of superorganisms, we know relatively little about how they evolve. One limiting factor to the study of superorganismality is the difficulty of conducting manipulative experiments in social insect colonies. Recent work on establishing the clonal raider ant, Ooceraea biroi, as a tractable laboratory model, has helped alleviate this difficulty. In this dissertation, I study the proximate evolution of superorganismality in ants. Using focussed mechanistic experiments in O. biroi, in combination with comparative work from other ant species, I study three major aspects of ant social behaviour that provide insight into the origin, maintenance, and elaboration of superorganismality.
    [Show full text]
  • 6. Nutritional Value of Insects for Human Consumption
    67 6. Nutritional value of insects for human consumption 6.1 NuTRITioNAL CompoSITioN The nutritional values of edible insects are highly variable, not least because of the wide variety of species. Even within the same group of edible insect species, values may differ depending on the metamorphic stage of the insect (in particular, for species with a complete metamorphosis – known as holometabolous species – such as ants, bees and beetles), and their habitat and diet. Like most foods, preparation and processing methods (e.g. drying, boiling or frying) applied before consumption will also influence nutritional composition. A few scattered studies analyse the nutritional value of edible insects; however, these data are not always comparable due to the above-mentioned variations between insects and because of the varying methodologies employed to analyse the compounds. Moreover, where commonly consumed, insects comprise only a part of local diets. For example, in certain African communities insects form 5–10 percent of the protein consumed (Ayieko and Oriaro, 2008). Nevertheless, because of their nutritional value they are still a highly significant food source for human populations. Attempts are now being made to compile data on the nutritional value of insects (Box 6.1). This chapter looks at nutritional aspects of insects for human consumption, while Chapter 8 touches on insects in relation to animal nutrition. The main components of insects are protein, fat and fibre; nutritional values are expressed in this chapter as dietary energy, proteins, fatty acids, fibres, dietary minerals and vitamins. BOX 6.1 The FAO/INFOODS food composition database for biodiversity The International Network of Food Data Systems (INFOODS), established in 1984, aims to stimulate and coordinate efforts to improve the quality and worldwide availability of food analysis data and to ensure that all people in different parts of the world can obtain adequate and reliable food composition data.
    [Show full text]
  • Edible Insects
    1.04cm spine for 208pg on 90g eco paper ISSN 0258-6150 FAO 171 FORESTRY 171 PAPER FAO FORESTRY PAPER 171 Edible insects Edible insects Future prospects for food and feed security Future prospects for food and feed security Edible insects have always been a part of human diets, but in some societies there remains a degree of disdain Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security and disgust for their consumption. Although the majority of consumed insects are gathered in forest habitats, mass-rearing systems are being developed in many countries. Insects offer a significant opportunity to merge traditional knowledge and modern science to improve human food security worldwide. This publication describes the contribution of insects to food security and examines future prospects for raising insects at a commercial scale to improve food and feed production, diversify diets, and support livelihoods in both developing and developed countries. It shows the many traditional and potential new uses of insects for direct human consumption and the opportunities for and constraints to farming them for food and feed. It examines the body of research on issues such as insect nutrition and food safety, the use of insects as animal feed, and the processing and preservation of insects and their products. It highlights the need to develop a regulatory framework to govern the use of insects for food security. And it presents case studies and examples from around the world. Edible insects are a promising alternative to the conventional production of meat, either for direct human consumption or for indirect use as feedstock.
    [Show full text]
  • 3. Predation by Ants on Arthropods and Other Animals
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital.CSIC Predation in the Hymenoptera: An Evolutionary Perspective, 2011: 39-78 ISBN: 978-81-7895-530-8 3. Predation by ants on arthropods and other animals 1 2,3 Xim Cerdá and Alain Dejean 1Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio, 41092 Sevilla, Spain 2CNRS, Écologie des Forêts de Guyane (UMR-CNRS 8172), Campus Agronomique 97379 Kourou, cedex, France; 3Université de Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne 31062 Toulouse Cedex, France Abstract. Ants are the most widely distributed and most numerically abundant group of social insects. First, they were ground- or litter-dwelling predators or scavengers, and certain taxa evolved to adopt an arboreal way of life. Most ant species are generalist feeders, and only some ground-nesting and ground- foraging species are strictly predators. Ants are central-place foragers (with the exception of army ants during the nomadic phase) that may use different foraging strategies. Solitary hunting is the most common method employed by predatory ants. Cooperative hunting, considered more evolved than solitary hunting, is used by army ants and other ants such as Myrmicaria opaciventris, Paratrechina longicornis or the dominant arboreal Oecophylla. Army ants are predators with different levels of specialization, some of which focus on a particular genus or species, as is the case for Nomamyrmex esenbeckii which organizes subterranean raids on the very large colonies of the leaf-cutting species Atta colombica or A. cephalotes. Arboreal ants have evolved predatory behaviors adapted to the tree foliage, where prey are unpredictable and able to escape by flying away, jumping or Correspondence/Reprint request: Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Biology of Termites: a Modern Synthesis David Edward Bignell · Yves Roisin · Nathan Lo Editors
    Biology of Termites: A Modern Synthesis David Edward Bignell · Yves Roisin · Nathan Lo Editors Biology of Termites: A Modern Synthesis Foreword by Bernard J. Crespi 123 Editors Prof. David Edward Bignell Prof. Yves Roisin School of Biological and Chemical Behavioural and Evolutionary Ecology Sciences Université Libre de Bruxelles Queen Mary University of London Av. F.D. Roosevelt 50 Mile End Rd. 1050 Bruxelles E1 4NS London Belgium United Kingdom [email protected] [email protected] Dr. Nathan Lo School of Biological Sciences University of Sydney Macleay Bldg. A12 2006 Sydney New South Wales Australia [email protected] ISBN 978-90-481-3976-7 e-ISBN 978-90-481-3977-4 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3977-4 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010937355 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Chapter 19 is published with kind permission of © CSIRO Australia 2011. All rights reserved No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover illustration: imagoes, soldiers, workers and larvae of Syntermes territus Emerson. Photo: Yves Roisin Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) While preparing the final proofs of this volume, we learned with great sadness of the death of Professor Charles Noirot on 23 September 2010, at the age of 88.
    [Show full text]
  • Soil Health and Arthropods: from Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation
    insects Review Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation Cristina Menta * and Sara Remelli Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Viale delle Scienze 11/A, 43124 Parma, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 12 December 2019; Accepted: 13 January 2020; Published: 16 January 2020 Abstract: The dramatic increase in soil degradation in the last few decades has led to the need to identify methods to define not only soil quality but also, in a holistic approach, soil health. In the past twenty years, indices based on living communities have been proposed alongside the already proven physical-chemical methods. Among them, some soil invertebrates have been included in monitoring programs as bioindicators of soil quality. Being an important portion of soil fauna, soil arthropods are involved in many soil processes such as organic matter decomposition and translocation, nutrient cycling, microflora activity regulation and bioturbation. Many studies have reported the use of soil arthropods to define soil quality; among taxa, some have been explored more in depth, typically Acari and Collembola, while generally less abundant groups, such as Palpigradi or Embioptera, have not been investigated much. This paper aims to evaluate and compare the use of different soil microarthropod taxa in soil degradation/quality studies to highlight which groups are the most reported for soil monitoring and which are the most sensitive to soil degradation. We have decided not to include the two most present and abundant taxa, Acari and Collembola, in this paper in consideration of the vast amount of existing literature and focus the discussion on the other microarthropod groups.
    [Show full text]
  • Silvestri) (Blattodea, Isoptera, Termitidae) in Maize Fields in Argentina
    Brazilian Journal of Agriculture v.93, n.3, p. 290 – 298, 2018 FIRST RECORDS OF THE SUBTERRANEAN TERMITES Procornitermes striatus (HAGEN) AND Procornitermes triacifer (SILVESTRI) (BLATTODEA, ISOPTERA, TERMITIDAE) IN MAIZE FIELDS IN ARGENTINA María Celina Godoy1 1Universidad Nacional del Nordeste – Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura. E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The genus Procornitermes is considered one the most important agricultural pest termites in South America. Here, the presence of P. striatus and P. triacifer on maize plants in Argentina is reported for the first time and the damages observed in the area are characterized. In May 2016, subterranean termites were detected in maize fields from Chaco province. They were identified as the aforementioned two species of the genus Procornitermes. The damages observed in the analyzed maize plants were concentrated in roots and at the stem base. The stems of affected plants were almost completely hollowed and many of the small diameter roots and rootlets had been cut and consumed or moved to the nests. These records reveal the presence of the subterranean Procornitermes termites in agricultural areas of Argentina and require future surveys to determine their abundance and potential impact on regional crops. Keywords: Termites, Procornitermes, maize, Argentina PRIMEROS REGISTROS DE LAS TERMITAS SUBTERRÁNEAS Procornitermes striatus (HAGEN) Y Procornitermes triacifer (SILVESTRI) (BLATTODEA, ISOPTERA, TERMITIDAE) EN CULTIVOS DE MAÍZ EN ARGENTINA RESUMEN El género Procornitermes ha sido mencionado entre las termitas plagas agrícolas más importantes de América del Sur. Aquí se comunica por primera vez la presencia de P. striatus y P. triacifer en plantaciones de maíz en Argentina y se caracterizan los daños observados en la zona.
    [Show full text]